“It looks like Max is inside, running point.”
I blink a few times. “What do you mean by that?”
Aiden chuckles. “Well, he went in and started helping in the back.”
“Where they’re cooking food?” I ask, surprised. Maybe he’s a really good cook, and we haven’t seen it because he hasn’t had a kitchen available.
Aiden lifts his phone to show us the screen. “He just texted me back and said the process wasn’t serving the restaurant and that he would join us once we get inside.”
Something inside me twists at the thought that this newrestaurant might not get a fair shake if we don’t help them fix things quickly.
“I’m going to see if I can help as well.”
“You’re just going to leave us here?” Lila asks, finally noticing I’m behind her again.
“You’ll be fine,” I say, “but if we can help move things along, then we’ll all get to eat sooner, right?”
Aiden and Sarah look like they want to say something, but I hurry and head into the restaurant. It’s dark compared to the outside.
I glance around and don’t see Max anywhere, so I walk over to each of the curtains and make sure to pull them up enough that the sun isn’t in anyone’s eyes.
The hostess looks flustered and is writing things on her hand.
“Do you need some help?” I ask, trying to look her in the eye.
She looks to be about eighteen and blows out a long breath before she says, “I would appreciate that. Obviously, this is the first day on the job, and we don’t have all the supplies in yet.”
“Okay, what did they tell you to do?” I ask, giving her a reassuring smile.
I was a hostess before I was a server, and one of my favorite restaurants helped get me through my first year of college before I was able to get a job on campus. I learned a lot about people and about customer service in that time.
The hostess responds with, “I’m just supposed to guide people to their tables, so I put a bunch right here against the windows,” she says, pointing to the one section of tables.
I hold up my hand to stop her. “Okay, how many servers do you have right now?”
“Maybe four?”
“How many tables total do we have in here?”
She doesn’t know, and so I go about counting. For whatlooks like a small space, there is a good amount of seating in here.
“Okay, so the first thing we want to do is find a piece of paper, any kind of paper right now, and a pen, so we can make a chart to keep track. I’ll start working on the people coming in, and we’ll get things in order.”
The hostess hurries into the back room, and I turn to look at the group of people waiting at the door.
“Hello and welcome. Thank you for trying out this restaurant for its first run. How many people are in your party?”
The hostess returns after I’ve gotten numbers on the first three groups, and I start writing them down. I point to the room. “We have one big group and a couple of smaller groups, but you want to space them out in the room so not everyone is in the same area. We’ll also make sections of these tables,” I say, drawing many squares on the paper she brought back, “and give them to each of the servers. That way, it’ll break it up a bit, and it won’t be chaos when they need to take a break.”
She gives me a wide-eyed stare and shrugs.
“I’ll let you work on these three groups. I’m going to go check on the servers and make sure they have what they need.”
She gives me a grateful look and turns to look at the man in front of the group.
I walk over and push through the kitchen doors, trying to get a sense of what’s going on and what the hierarchy is here. Instead, I’m surprised to see Max in an apron, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and he looks comfortable with a knife. Not in a killer way, but chopping vegetables.
Maybe we’ll be able to get some things working smoothly to keep this business running.
